


Wish You Everything You Wish Yourself

by Rhuia



Category: The Teahouse
Genre: Canon-typical homphobic language, Incest play - not in main pairing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-08
Updated: 2013-05-08
Packaged: 2017-12-10 19:19:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/789217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhuia/pseuds/Rhuia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys yawned.  “Here,” he said, and held a finger out.  Axis lapped his tongue at it, licking it from base to tip, and sat back to look.  No blood.  When he looked up, Rhys wasn’t looking sleepy anymore.  “Let’s make sure,” Rhys said, and bit him on his lower lip.</p><p> </p><p>Slightly AU-ish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wish You Everything You Wish Yourself

 

 

Rhys was asleep.

Ah fuck, Rhys was _asleep_.Axis pulled himself upright and tried to shove Rhys off the bed to wake him up.He overbalanced, wobbled, and fell flat onto Rhys’s chest, catching his tongue between his teeth and almost biting it in half.

“You know, there are easier ways to get my attention,” Rhys said, without opening his eyes.

“I dhon’t dho shleepoversh,” Axis said.His tongue felt like it was bleeding.He poked Rhys in the ribs.“Hey. _Hey_.”

“The amount of money I pay for you, you should be singing me to sleep while sucking on my dick, Alice,” Rhys said, but he opened his eyes.“What?”

“By thongue,” Axis said, feeling it swell and sticking it out and pointing to it.“By thongue, ish ut bluuding? Ish thur blud?”

Rhys yawned.“Here,” he said, and held a finger out.Axis lapped his tongue at it, licking it from base to tip, and sat back to look.No blood.When he looked up, Rhys wasn’t looking sleepy anymore.“Let’s make sure,” Rhys said, and bit him on his lower lip.

No-one really slept that night, in the end.

-

Lady May was purring like a cat.Axis could hear the little rumbling sounds she was making from where his head was pillowed on her stomach.She ran her fingers through his hair.“ _Such_ a talented tongue,” she said.

“You know it only works that way for you,” he said.“You drive me wild.”

She tugged at his hair a little and when he looked up he saw she was pouting.“Mummy only agrees to share you with other people because you do attract the right sort, darling.Whose coach was that I saw parked round the back last night?”

He shrugged.“Don’t know, don’t give a shit.”

Fifteen minutes left and it was looking like he’d need a quick hand job before the next appointment.That, or he’d blow it five minutes in and have to get inventive.He wasn’t feeling inventive.He was _feeling_ like a fuck, but apparently the universe wasn’t going to dish one up anytime soon.

Lady May was frowning in concentration now.“You know, I think it belonged to Rhys.”

“Rhys who? I’m only thinking about you and your hot bod right now.”He crawled up her body and licked her ear.“I can’t stand that it’s going to be three whole days before I get to taste you again.”

“Mmmm.”She stretched under him and for one hopeful second he thought she might be up for a quickie.“Is he one of yours?” she said.

_ Well his dick is _ , he started to say and looked up and saw her face.Something in it stopped the words right in their tracks and a cold little trickle went down his back.

“Fuck that, I’m no fag,” he said, scowling.“Go ask Mercutio or Claret or, eh, Lilith – if he was looking to get his balls frozen off.”

“Oh I don’t want anyone but you,” she said, shifting so her legs closed ever so slightly.

He sighed to himself.He should have remembered she liked getting her money’s worth.“Aw mommy,” he said, “Axis doesn’t wanna use his words,” and rubbed his cock on her clit until she shuddered and came.

-

“Just one more thing, your highness,” Lord May said, holding up a finger.A small but unmistakeable sigh went around the table.They had been in sequester for over five hours; even Gloria looked faintly irritated at her uncle.

“Clause 15 doesn’t cover the eventualities of madness or murder,” Lord May said, slow and mulish.A slow drip was starting on his left nostril.Rhys stared at it, fascinated.

“I wasn’t aware that either was eventual,” Rhys said, trying for patience.

Lord May gave him a reproving look.“Subsection 12 only touches on the contingency plan for Verone should either occur.”He waved a vague hand.“God forbid, of course.”The drip had grown bigger and was migrating to the tip of his nose.

The Ivore contingent sat up a little.

“These are wedding negotiations,” Evelyn said, going straight from boredom to slightly triumphant haughtiness.“The politics of Unification have no part in it.”

“You’ll forgive me for disagreeing, your highness,” Lord May said, patting her hand with his own damp one.“Our kingdoms might be uniting but Verone’s monarchs will live in Ivore.Verone’s parliament will dissolve and resume under the patronage of the Ivore court.”The droplet, large and glistening now, trembled and fell – straight into Lord May’s handkerchief.Rhys leaned back, sighing.It was the most entertainment he’d had all afternoon.“Verone’s currency will be disestablished and as all our trade to be done in Ivore _sous_ from now on—“

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed.“Oh but by all means, let’s forget Ivore taking on Verone’s debts, agreeing to mediate in your civil war.”Her voice rose.“Not to mention underwriting all your investments, installing a proxy court in Verone, and transferring the costs of all your pensions and social welfare to the Ivore treasury.We—“

“Evelyn,” Rhys said.She looked mutinous, but stopped.The clock ticked over into the sixth hour.Another minute of it and there was the strong possibility they’d all murder each other.

And that thought, he realised sleepily, came courtesy of spending too much time with degenerates who acted first and thought about consequences hours – hours, hah, more like _days_ – later.His own degenerate probably would have shoved all the paperwork into Lord May’s soft mouth five minutes in.

_ His own _ …? He shook himself awake.

“All this,” he said, “must surely be secondary to the greater joy of finally uniting our two peoples into one.Should we not allow that same joy to guide our deliberations, my lord?”

Lord May’s face stayed a solid mask, but Rhys saw a fierce light kindle in his eyes – in such contrast to the quavering frailty of the last six hours that it was startling – for a second before it died and he nodded.“As you say, your highness.We will be one nation – though unalike in power.”

“I, also, had hoped to make the negotiations as comprehensive as possible, Lord May,” Rhys said, “but I can’t allow my marriage contract to become a battle ground for the politicians.”

He held up a hand when the other man opened his mouth to protest.“We leave the statutes of Unification to Parliament.My marriage should reflect what concerns Lady Gloria and myself.If the King and Queen of the Two Kingdoms don’t know where the other stands, we cannot truly hope to govern as monarchs.”

“I quite agree,” Gloria said.It was the first time she’d spoken all afternoon; it hadn’t surprised him that she’d stayed quiet, though he had yet to know where she stood on her uncle’s political ideas, but this unlooked-for support took him aback.“I’m marrying the country as well as the man, uncle, but only one of the two will be my husband.Our contract here protects my interests; Verone must look to the law to protect hers.”

Lord May said, startled, “I – no, of course, of course my dear.”

“Then we’re resolved for the day?” She made to stand.

Lord May visibly struggled with himself a moment.“I seek only to guide her ladyship, without prejudice or bias,” he said to Rhys. “Her father, god rest him, charged me with the task of her marriage after his death, and I hope to fulfil his last trust in me to the best of all my abilities.”He peered up at Rhys with watery, glittering eyes.

Whatever drowsy good humour he’d managed to squeeze out of the afternoon evaporated.Every part of this was fraught with the threat of it all going up in flames.Nothing that came with Unification was going to be the dream that his father and grandfather had dreamed.What he would inherit would be two kingdoms seething with unspoken fears and the volatile rage of change.

And then there was Gloria herself.God help him if he should so much as twitch wrong in the marriage, she and her negotiation contract would humiliate him to the fullest extent the law could humiliate royalty.It was just as well he’d grown up knowing his fate; there was no escape from this, and no amount of contract detail in the world would change that.

He inclined his head at them all, sitting in judgement over him already.

“Then let me provide the reassurance that, in matters of the heart at least, Lady Gloria,” he said, so dry that even Gloria’s icy face flickered just a little, “I am entirely at your disposal.”

-

There was a restless, jittery feel in the air.It came in off the streets; small crowds were gathered everywhere, listening to Unification speeches.Men and women on boxes shouted at the crowds; the crowds shouted back, and the background noise of discontent filtered through the Teahouse.

Atros had the main gates locked, in case thought turned to action, and the hallway shutters opening onto the street were barred.At the end of the avenue, someone had strung a homemade banner across two buildings: _Vive La Difference!_ it said, but the colours had run and faded in the rain.

_ Taking the bread from our mouths/floods of migrants/little enough work already _ : snatches of the shouted conversations from outside drifted in while Claret braided Axis’ hair in the kitchen.“Thank goodness for the festival,” Claret said, sighing.“Everyone needs to have a little fun before we all forget how.”

“Yeah, because sharp pointy arrows bring out the happy fun-lover in everyone.Ow, shit.”She’d snagged a hunk of hair.

“Sooorry,” Claret said, untangling it. She tsk’ed. “I’d still rather have arrows stuck in targets than in people.Mr Hiko from the cigarette shop had his horse lamed last week.Can you believe it? Just because it’s a Veronese breed.”

The Festival of the Bird King was the following week; the shops were bright with decorations and new paint, and officials from the castle had started putting up archery butts in the fields around town.The contests would start three days before festival day.Everywhere Axis looked he saw arrows and people sharpening them. 

Every sentence he heard ended in _: the old man would have known better_ , as if every step of this hadn’t been charted by those who had come before.Now the old king was dying and there was only the Prince to carry the burden of blame.

“What are you wearing to La Petite Nuit, Axis?” Claret asked him, and shrieked when he grumbled that he was going to give all the dress-up shit a miss this year and get trashed in a bar instead.“No no! We’re all going, even Argent!”

She abandoned doing his hair and dragged him down to the Marché Rouge.They moved easily enough through the crowds, but the excitement of the festival blended badly with the muttering unhappiness, and he was glad when they got to the covered walkways of the Red Market.

“Three sous – yes, yes, all right _monsieur_ , two.”The bargain went against the silk merchant, but he looked worn and afraid, and thrust Axis’ clothes at him before quickly withdrawing into the dark inner room of his shop. 

“He’s Veronese,” Claret said in an undertone, as they walked away.She looked sad.“He and some of his people in the bazaar came to ask Argent if she knew of any swords for hire.For protection, they said.”

She brightened up when they found a silversmith selling tiny animals made of beaten metal, and bought Argent a brooch shaped like a hawk.When they were done, he had a silk cloak with a slithery black dragon on it, a mask woven out of silver feathers, and a blue wig that he stuffed quickly into his pocket before anyone could see it.

The cloak was dark red, like crushed berries, and the dragon writhed and slipped between his fingers.

“They say even the royal family comes to La Petite Nuit,” Claret said, sighing as they sat in the dining booth back at the Teahouse, Lilith and Linneus across from them.“Our one chance to kiss the Crown Prince when he’s in public! Think of that,” she said, nudging him.

“Our one chance to keep our legs closed,” Axis said.The wig in was in his back pocket and the lump it made was digging into him.“Or to fuck free.Imagine that, Claret: in someone else’s bed, just for kicks.Think princes care if we get our kicks or not? Yeah, the royal family can kiss my ass.”

“Oh I’m sure they’re just all lining up to,” Lilith said, twisting her mouth at him.

“Whatever.”He wondered for a minute whether the Prince kissed whores in the street.Not if he could help it, probably.Probably had some gracious way of making sure you knew you were shit underneath his shoes.“Hey Lilith, if you kissed a Prince would you turn him into a frog? Or would he turn you back into a lizard?”

Linneus put a hand over his mouth and looked away; Claret said, “Axis, you’re mean!” but Lilith gave him a long, tight look.She said, “I’m going to take immense pleasure in your eventual execution, you cretin,” and left the room.

“Wha happun?” Axis said, but it was just for form’s sake; Lilith always did like a dramatic exit.

-

Rhys was his usual sparkly self that night, cocking that eyebrow of his at everything and curling his lip at Axis, who was naked on the bed with his hands behind his head.

“Your presumption is both idiotic and unentertaining,” Rhys said, looking down at him.

Axis shrugged.“My dick doesn’t care what you find entertaining,” he said, and sure enough, it was hard and standing to attention.He put a hand on it and tugged slow, real slow, slow enough that he saw Rhys’s mouth start to soften.The tip of it was starting to glisten; he rubbed a thumb over it and sighed with how that felt.

Sacrificing pleasure was for amateurs, though he had to grudgingly admit Rhys wasn’t totally greedy in bed.Still, if Mr Pissypants needed foreplay, this was about as good as it was going to get; too bad if it didn’t meet his arched fucking eyebrow’s standards.

Rhys didn’t say anything, but his eyes followed Axis’s thumb.“Lick it off,” he said.

“Yeah?” Axis lifted his thumb to his mouth and curled his tongue around it, watching Rhys.He probably looked pretty stupid, sitting there licking his own spunk, except Rhys had a flush high on his cheekbones and even from across the room Axis could see how hard he was.So … maybe not that stupid.

He let his thumb slide down his lower lip, put his hand back on his cock and said, “you just gonna stand there and watch?”

Rhys’s eyes flared.He said, “You know, I think I took the other payment option”, leaned against the door and started to give Axis _instructions_.Which fucked Axis right off because screw that, he could do that on his own time – right up to the point Rhys said, “I’m not going to let you come, Alex, just remember that,” and he froze because all the blood in his body rushed to his dick at that exact second and he had to squeeze hard to stop himself shooting all over the sheets.

Rhys was in charge; it was his hand but he couldn’t move it until Rhys said he could, and he was torn between coming till he blacked out and wanting Rhys’ voice saying, _you like that don’t you, I can tell,_ for the rest of his natural life.

He licked dry lips.“Like you could stop me,” he said, and yes thank you jesus that made the bastard move and suddenly Rhys was straddling him on the bed, clothes still on, hand wrapped around Axis’s.“You’ll come when I say you can,” Rhys repeated calmly, and moved both their hands on Axis’s dick.

It was slick and tight and so hot, christ, his skin was just about on fire.Rhys’ breath quickened and he licked his lips.Axis felt his orgasm start at the base of his spine, gathering to hurtle through him.“Fucking come _on_ ,” he groaned. 

Rhys bit the curve of his neck.“Not yet,” he said, and Axis thumped his other fist against the headboard, growling. 

Rhys’ mouth moved against his skin; he gripped a little tighter, right to the point where it almost got uncomfortable – Axis heard himself make a strangled, harsh sound, _fuck fuck yeah_.

Rhys ground his hips down at the same time and licked the spot he’d bitten.He said, harsh and low, “yes, now,” and Axis came, almost shouting, curling his other hand into Rhys’ shirt, his lips against Rhys’s neck too.They stayed like that for a long time afterwards, as their breathing evened out and the sweat dried on their skin.

-

Rhys saw the dragon cloak lying on the floor as they lay in bed, smoking.His mouth was tight and hard again, and the eyebrow was up again, too.He turned it on Axis, leaning down and picking the cloak up, twitching a fold of it between his fingers.“I didn’t know dressing up was part of the service.You should have mentioned this earlier, Alex.”

“I’ve got services you’ve never seen,” Axis said.He was feeling comfortably well-fucked, and anyway, he looked shit hot in the cloak.He’d tried it on last night and Atros, mercenary pimp that he was, had nodded and said, curtly, “wear it during line-ups.”Which, for Atros, was about the same as saying “you’ve got a really impressive cock Axis, take it out and wave it around.”He didn’t like Atros – repressed, tightly-wound asshole that he was – but they’d known each other a long time.

“That wouldn’t be hard,” Rhys said drily. “ Are you the laziest person in this place, or did you all just band together because you had that in common?”

Axis grinned.“You know, I’d deny this if you ever brought it up, but you’re kinda hot when you’re being bitchy.What’s crawled up your ass?”

There was a short silence.“Duties, responsibilities,” Rhys said finally, taking a pull on his cigarette and blowing out a cloud of smoke. “Nothing you’d know about.Don’t pull a muscle trying to imagine it.”He looked distant and untouchable and not like a man who’d been buried balls deep in Axis’ ass half an hour ago.

“Yup, live fast die quick, carpe diem and all that shit.”Axis stretched.“Which is why I’m going to La Petite Nuit as a motherfucking _dragon_ and you,” he tapped a finger on Rhys’ forehead, “are staying home and taking care of those ‘responsibilities’.Guess which one of us is gonna get laid?”

Rhys flicked his finger away.“You can get laid any time of the year.”

“I can get paid for sex any time of the year,” Axis said, sighing and lying back down.“La Petite Nuit is the one night in the year Atros cuts us loose.He’s generous like that, old Atros.”

“Interesting,” Rhys said, narrowing his eyes.“And misguided – knowing you, you’ll either choose someone who’ll beat you to within an inch of your life, or bore you senseless.”

Axis hummed, thinking of last year’s sweet ride: tits like big, ripe grapefruit, legs all warm and smooth wound around him.The year before that it had been twins and a flagon of warm oil.

“Nah,” he said, looking at Rhys spread out beside him, pale skin gleaming in the candlelight, “I get kinda lucky on La Petite Nuit.Also, you know, I have some really excellent taste.”

One year he’d gone up Rue Frere, the steep street that led to the city’s lookout point.There were the remains of an old fort there, left over from the days when the wild tribes still attacked, and the capital needed to be ringed with barricades.He’d taken a bottle of rough red and sung a few songs from the village to himself while the streets below surged and sparkled through the festivale.There had hardly been any wind, and the stars were enormous that far away from the city lights.

Rhys listened, looking appropriately bored, but he put a hand up against Axis’ collarbone for a minute after Axis finished.His fingers splayed out against the dark bronze of Axis’ throat.It was a strange touch, warm and fleeting, but his voice was toneless when he spoke.“Luck runs out.”

“Yeah well,” Axis said, “it hasn’t yet.”

Their eyes met; Rhys said nothing and dropped his hand.He stubbed his cigarette out.‘While I think of it, you’re not the only one who’s going to have sex on tap in the near future – I’m to be married.My visits here will lessen in the beginning, while I’m attending to my new wife.”

The moment passed, like they’d both let out a breath.“Yeah,” Axis said thoughtfully, “don’t want her feeling inadequate next to this.”He nodded meaningfully downwards.

“Are you in fact,” said Rhys slowly, “referring to your dick?”His eyebrow was still up, but his mouth was twitching a little and when Axis nodded solemnly he actually smiled.It was a little lopsided and he was rolling his eyes, but it was something.“You’re delusional.”

“Bet I’m still prettier than her though,” Axis said, smirking.

“You’re something, I’ll give you that,” Rhys said, but his eyes were a little more alive and when he fucked Axis again that night he went deep and slow, building them both up to a climax that left them hoarse and boneless and breathless.They were still holding onto each other when they collapsed into a sleep that sucked them under, like a dark, hungry tide.

-

Zephyr slid into the room, a bright golden blade in the growing shadows.

“Your highness,” Rhys’ spymaster said, and waited.

It was dusk.Rhys stood at the window, looking down at the capital.It spread out in a semicircle at the foot of the hill, like a fan carved from white marble.The streetlights were coming on slowly, as the gas caught and flickered in the lamps down one avenue and up another. 

“Well?”

“Lord May sought to win influence with the Queen Regent of Verone after the King died.He was unsuccessful with her, but the writ of King Josef’s will does bear out Lord May being in charge of Lady Gloria’s marriage negotiations.” Zephyr stepped in close to him, dropping his voice.“It was his lack of success with Queen Helena that brought him to Ivore’s court, though he has maintained strong alliances with parties in Verone.”

“Parties that have strong feelings about the coming unification.”

He didn’t need an answer, but Zephyr nodded.“Nationalists, secessionists.Some more volatile than others, sire.Some we’ve watched for years.”

“And all with sworn secret oaths to rid Ivore of its line of succession, no doubt,” Rhys sighed.He’d made it through at least three assassination attempts since they’d announced Unification.Evelyn occasionally boasted she was more popular; they’d tried four times with her.

“I can’t remove him from the negotiations,” Rhys said.“Not without raising suspicion, and not without Gloria thinking I’m trying to short-change the contract.”

All the streets were lit now, and the city glittered like stars under his feet.It was all his, forever, to keep and pass on: his family would stay entwined and part of those streets forever.Those streetlights would light for his descendants for all time.

When you thought of it that way, escape seemed a dream, a child’s plaything.Who could think of running from such inexorable purpose? Who would want to?

Zephyr nodded but said nothing; he had gone very still.Rhys looked at him sharply.“What is it?”

Zephyr put a hand on his arm.“Sire – Rhys,” he said, quietly, like he was trying to gentle a shying horse, “Lord May’s men are watching the Teahouse.Two of them shadow Axis.”

He thought later that his reaction must have seemed muted: he made a small sound that could have been mild surprise – the casual contribution of any listener to a conversation.But there was a strange heat under his skin and he knew – from very far away, it seemed – that he was breathing very quick and hard.

Zephyr held his arm for a long moment.“We have them in our sights,” he said.“We have them, Rhys.”Rhys came back to himself, nodded once, and Zephyr let go of his arm.

It was useless to pretend anything other than the truth with Zephyr but it still went against the grain; Zephyr had brought him home after more debauched nights than he could remember, undressing his dissolute, empty-eyed prince with more care than he probably deserved, opening up and letting Rhys pour all his dry, burning need into him.But they did it all in silence and in the morning he was Rhys’ man again, the understanding between them a quiet, solid thing. It left a sour taste in his mouth now though, thinking of Axis – unprotected, careless – while Zephyr cocooned Rhys with his strength and knowledge.

“I’ve an agent of my own on Axis,” Zephyr said, his mouth twisting for a minute.“A skilled operative, loyal to Ivore.They will not fail us.”

Zephyr’s eyes were almost kind, and it was all too much.“If they do,” Rhys said, denying himself everything, feeling his stomach turn, “I just learn to take my body’s pleasure in more circumspect places.You’re wasting my time.Find out what is going to happen.Find out when.”

-

Mercutio was waxing his balls in the bathroom when Axis stepped in, a towel slung around his waist.

“—yaaggh goddamit,” Axis said, holding up a hand to block it out, “lock the fucking door if you’re going to be doing shit like that.”

“It’s a communal bathroom, and I’m just sitting here,” Mercutio said primly.“Feel free to take a dump, give yourself an enema – whatever you like, your majesty.” He snapped his wrist over his crotch, humming, throwing little hairy squares of cloth into a basket at his feet.

“Like I’d give you the satisfaction, freakozoid,” Axis said, but he dumped soap into a bowl and lathered up anyway.Mercutio’s hands flickered in and out of his side vision.He scraped the razor down his face.“What are you doing that for, anyway? I thought you liked your body fur.”

Mercutio sighed.“I doooo.It’s Lady May, she’s so particular about how I groom myself down there.What’s a boy to do?”

Axis stilled the razor for a minute.“Lady May’s been visiting you?”

“Oh not for long.It’s been a week or so.”Mercutio tenderly patted his red, puffy balls.“And Claret has to make sure there’s a tray of those sweet pastries she likes every time they have a session together.”

“She’s visiting Claret too, huh?”He kept shaving, staring at himself in the mirror.“She never asks me for anything but my dick.Doesn’t shut up, though.Yak yak yak.”

“She _is_ a talker,” Mercutio said.He was slathering some disgusting smelling thing on.It was almost too much to take, but there was no way Axis was leaving.

“Always with the questions,” Axis said.Mercutio was watching him in the mirror, sharp and hungry.Easy….easy…one whiff of real interest and Mercutio would be on it like a cat with a mouse to bat around.

“Like I give enough of a shit to find out about anyone I see.Keeps asking about that asshole Rhys.”

“You _are_ very fuck-n-go, dumpling.”Mercutio stood up and stretched.“Yes, Rhys appears to be on her mind.”His eyes hadn’t left Axis’s.“There are reasons for that, you know.”

“Yeah yeah she’s looking for some aristo tail.So what? Don’t they all fall onto each other’s cocks and vaginas at some point?”

Mercutio smiled, sly and delighted.“Oh I hardly think that’s what she has planned for your boy.”

Axis scowled at him in the mirror.“He’s not my boy.”

“Then you shouldn’t care at all what’s in store for him.”Mercutio had smelt blood somehow; his grin was all shark’s teeth.

He’d heard enough.Mercutio would play with whatever little information he had until he’d wrung every last drop of entertainment out of it.And if he did know more, there’d be no getting it out of him; he took customer loyalty more seriously than you’d give him credit for, the bizarro freak. 

He picked up his brush and razor and waved nonchalantly.“Like I said, barely give a shit,” and walked out slowly, feeling the other man’s eyes burning into his back.

-

Lady May wasn’t just seeing Claret and Mercutio; she was on Lilith and Linneus’ books as well.

Atros looked up from his ledger.“Some of our clients have diverse tastes,” he said, leaning back in his chair.“It’s not unusual.”

They were in his office.Axis stood by the windows, looking out over rooftops covered in coloured flags, and balconies with paper chains of birds fluttering from them.The archery contests had started; he could hear the roars of the crowds gathered over in the plaza.

It _wasn’t_ unusual; they’d had a client once who’d done a round robin with them over a week and given out prizes at the end.Claret had won for best orgasm face.Mercutio hadn’t stopped laughing all month.

Axis shrugged.“Just wondered if she was shopping.You know, for an exclusive contract.”

It was a good cover; everyone wanted what that lucky little fuck Rory had – days off when you could pretend your time was your own with only the occasional servicing.Must feel good to actually stop fucking, actually get to anticipate the sex instead of trying to pull the face out of the jumble where they’d all meshed into one.

He made himself look hopeful.

“I doubt it,” Atros said, taking his pen up again.“She’s never brought it up, and she’s not a regular enough customer to show signs of wanting something permanent.”

Axis stood up, scratching the back of his head lazily.“Yeah,” he said, “I guess that’s true.She’s only been coming here, what four, five weeks?Shouldn’t be getting my hopes up over a short-termer.”

“Four weeks,” Atros said, his head already bent over his ledger.

Four weeks since Rhys had picked him in that line-up.Four weeks since Lady May had turned up at their door.“Four weeks,” Axis repeated, counting back in his head to make sure, not that he needed to

-

“You’re sure, then?”Rhys was dressing himself in front of his mirrors; the next round of negotiations were due to start soon, and Zephyr had dismissed his valet so they could talk in private.

“Only if you are.”Zephyr looked resigned.It really was regrettable that Zephyr only knew him for his foibles and not for the clear-headedness a prince of the realm was meant to have.“There _will_ be a strike against you on La Petite Nuit; the details are still coming in.You know, if you’d reconsider, we could all spare ourselves this exercise.”

“If there’s to be an attempt on my life and I have the opportunity to dictate when it happens, I happen to think I should take that opportunity, don’t you?” He buttoned his shirt.“Nothing like the illusion of control.” 

Zephyr sighed.

“Anyway,” Rhys said, starting to tie his cravat, “the crowds are expecting the prince of Ivore at La Petite Nuit.”He met Zephyr’s eyes in the mirror.“I can’t afford to abandon the festivale this year, Zephyr.You know that as well as I do.”

“Ah yes.The crowds,” Zephyr said.

Rhys put his vest on, pulling his eyes away from Zephyr.“I told you before, he has nothing to—“

“Rhys.”Zephyr came to stand in front of him and started buttoning his vest.“What is this worth to you?The gathering will be volatile on the night; I can’t guarantee what I can and can’t control.I can protect you, but other people might get hurt.Are you willing to risk so much?”

He waited until Zephyr had finished, and his hands had fallen to his sides.

“People will get hurt regardless.Zephyr, they kicked a man till he bled from his ears because he was wearing Veronese colours, and that was on Rue Palais.Next to the _Palace_.There are people left in Ivore who will fall in line with the changes we want to make, but if I withdraw from public life and only set my armies on the populace to quell the rioters, what am I telling those who want peace?”

He shrugged on his coat.“There will always be attempts on my life.There will always be protests.Father won’t last the month.I can’t be seen to be avoiding my subjects, not now.Both Verone and Ivore celebrate the throning of the Bird King.If there was ever time to acknowledge our common heritage, it’s at La Petite Nuit.”

“Very well.” Zephyr looked tired; possibly there were things he wasn’t telling Rhys, but then there always were.“We’ll have to be careful – _you_ will have to be careful.There are things in your life that don’t inspire confidence in me, Rhys.”

“Old friend.”He rested his hands on Zephyr’s shoulders.“I’ll remember you said that when I’m king.”

Zephyr snorted.“I wish I knew how to dissuade you from this,” he said, but he patted Rhys’ hands.“I suppose in the end, it _is_ your choice.”

Rhys thought of stars, cold and white in a night sky that went on forever, and the lights of the city coming on one by one.“Yes,” he said, “I think it is.”

-

Rhys had one more appointment booked in before he disappeared off Axis’ schedule.He turned up with his face closed and dark, a skein of silky black rope in one hand.

He tied Axis up, spread-eagled him across the bed with the rope.Axis fought it a little because it felt good when he did, like a finger rubbing against the pulse in his wrists and ankles.But mostly he fought it because every time he did, Rhys breathed a little harder and colour rose under his skin.

It should have meant he was gonna get ridden hard right then and there, but Rhys just _looked_ at him, eyes dilated to almost black and travelling over his stretched, aching body.Touched Axis everywhere with his tongue and teeth, held him down with warm, clever hands.

“Hold on to the bars in the headboard,” Rhys said.His eyes got heavy-lidded when Axis obeyed, and he bit down gently on Axis’ nipples as a reward.

“Jesus fuck.”Axis gasped and strained against the ropes for real this time, trying to get closer.“Hey, you see my dick? It’s right there. _Right there_.”

“I see it,” Rhys said, and licked the insides of his thighs.

It was strange to lie there and take it.Something about it felt uncertain; he thought he would almost be hesitant if his hands were untied.Whatever Rhys was thinking though was buried hard down in his mind; he moved dreamily over Axis, shifting up to murmur things in his ear – unexpected, strange things: how good Axis was being for him, how he could let go, that he should let go.

“What,” Axis asked, dazed, not hearing anything past the roaring in his ears. “What?I – oh _fuck_.”

It should have been humiliating when he almost started sobbing; his cock was flushed and leaking all over him and he was straining against the ropes, but then Rhys made a sound and closed his mouth over it and there was no more thinking.

Rhys’ mouth was hot, and Rhys’ tongue did something unbelievable to the slit of his cock; it felt like warm oil washing all over him in heavy, soft waves.He moaned, wanting to come so badly it felt like pain: it must have shown in his face, because Rhys leaned back and did something to the ropes around his ankles.They fell away, and he grunted with reliefas Rhys oiled his cock up and slid inside.

“Yeah yeah, come on,” Axis said, and wound his legs around him, met him halfway.It hit Axis on that spot inside, and they both groaned, the sound harsh and raw in the quiet room.It was quick after that, Rhys looking wild and feral until Axis said, “fuck.Oh _fuck_ ,” and came, closing his eyes against it.

Rhys pushed a finger into his mouth and Axis sucked on it, soft and hungry, still pulsing with the aftershocks of his orgasm.Rhys came, shuddering, and bent down to kiss him through it, not letting go of him even once.

-

He’d been getting used to lying together afterwards – they’d started one hot, lazy afternoon and it had become habit since – but Rhys had barely rolled off him before he got up and pulled his pants on.

“I hear most people _like_ orgasms,” Axis mused, rubbing his wrists.The rope hadn’t chafed, but the sensation of something around his wrist remained.

Rhys was sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling on his boots.He got both on and dropped his hands onto his knees, his shoulders rigid.“Stay off the streets,” he said to the floor.“Stay inside, until after the festivale.It’s not safe.Keep to the house, do you understand?”

“La Petite Nuit—“ Axis began.

“—will come again next year.Stay home.Read a book.Get lucky next year.Or the year after that.”Rhys was still talking to his shoes.“Just stay home this time.” 

“Aw things might be a little tense around town right now,” Axis said, “but you know how people are at big parties – a little shouting, someone gets drunk, sets fire to his ass.Then it’s over and everyone’s blown off some steam and we’re all good again.”

“There’s a little more going on here than a big party.”Rhys stiffened, as if something had just occurred to him.He looked up at Axis.“You do know what’s—“

“Oh fuck you.”Axis rolled his eyes.“There’s shitheads outside my window at six in the morning shouting how the Veronese are gonna eat their daughters.Hate to kill that patronising momentum you were gathering there, asshole, but yeah, I know we’re all gearing up to be one big happy family any day now.”

“Then you know how on edge everyone is.Stay home, Alice.”

“Sure,” Axis said.“Yeah, I’ll do that.”

“Mother of god, for once in your irresponsible, reckless, childish life—“

“Oh dude, you’ve got it all wrong.We’re still on your time.I’m _agreeing_ with you.Don’t go telling Atros I don’t deliver the goods.”

Rhys rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand.“I have my reasons for asking,” he said.

“And I’ve got my reasons for going.”He shrugged, still furious.

“Then I’ll speak to Master Atros.”Rhys stood up to go.

“Good luck with that.”He leaned back against the cushions and lit up a cigarette.“You want me home keeping all warm and safe in bed, you’re gonna have to pay for it, cupcake.Just like everyone else.”

The cigarette was the only warm thing he could feel; his insides felt cold, and his palms were clammy.“Go right ahead.Book me out.”

Rhys froze for a minute, back to him, and walked out without saying a word.

-

Axis and Lady May circled each other, feinting every now and again with the short daggers in their hands.They were in the lower ballroom; Atros occasionally allowed Mercutio to host orgies in it, but it was unused for the most part and it was where Lady May liked to spar.

She grinned at Axis, sweaty and triumphant.Her knife twirled between her fingers, in and out, flashing fast and precise.The knives were dulled for training purposes, but you could still bruise from a jab – his chest had three darkening blotches on it.

“Nice trick,” he said, nodding at it as she twirled it backwards and forwards.

“Something I learnt during the last military campaign I was sent on,” she said, spinning it even faster, so it looked like she was playing with a ribbon of light.“A parlour trick, but it can confuse the enemy for a second.”

He looked up from the flashing steel to see a dagger in her other hand, pointed at his throat.The moving knife stopped.She flicked the laces of her corset open with the tip of it. “Yield,” she said.

He really only had himself to blame (“Knifeplay?” Atros had said, raising his eyebrows when he’d been assembling Axis’ public dossier for clients.“Sure, whatever,” he’d replied, thinking: a little kinky bondage, maybe a letter opener he’d have to wave around).

“Not the Axis-machine.He doesn’t go down without a fight.”He brushed the dagger aside and launched himself at her the way she liked him to, heavy and deliberate.She stepped neatly out of his way at the last second.He stopped himself a second too late, timing it right; by the time he’d managed to pivot around she was there waiting for the turn, and swept an ankle under him.He went down with an thud; she was on him like lightning, straddling him and pressing the heavy tip of one of the daggers into the small of his back.

“Yield,” she said again, and bent down to rub her freed breasts over his shoulders.

“Only if you fuck me, mommy,” he said.She did, flipped him around and did it quick, hot and turned on with all the rough play, coming with a scream on the floor of the dusty ballroom with her fingers pressed into his bruises. 

It was the thought of different fingers digging into him, how the pain-pleasure would be a whole different ride then, something that could twist him up and make him beg; he came with a shudder, gasping into the wrist he’d pressed against his mouth.

“Mmm,” he said when they were lying on his bed, back in his room.“I missed you so much.Don’t stay away that long again.”

“Did the little boy miss his mummy?”She gently scraped her nails over his scalp.“Not all of us get to lie around all day for a living, sweetie.Some of us are very, very busy with the Festival.”

He scowled.“Dicks with arrows.You’re blowing me off for that dog and pony show?”

“It has its uses,” she said, almost dreamily.

“Eh I suppose there’s the fuckfest at the end,” he said, shrugging.

She blinked and came alive at that, rolling on top of him and pinching his nipples.“Darling, yes! And I expect you to be there, dressed as my secret lover.Unless of course you have other plans?”

“Nah, just winging it.‘Course if I knew what you were coming dressed as, I’d be able to look out for you.” He leered at her, trying to sound conspiratory.She pinched him harder, enough to make him yelp a little.

“Silly.It’s a surprise, and I’ll never tell.”Her nails were digging into him.“I meant whether you were going with Rhys, obviously.I wouldn’t accept being replaced with anyone less.”

It was almost a relief; he’d been waiting for it from the minute she walked in the door and it had taken so long he’d almost begun to doubt himself.

“Oh, him.Like I’d be going with that uppity asshole.” He rolled his eyes.“Like he even lower himself that far.Probably stays at home on public holidays and practices flexing his eyebrows for fun.”

“Come, now,” she purred.“He favours you so highly – ah, don’t deny it, lots of little birds have been singing the same songs to me.Are you so sure he won’t be there?He would get to wear a disguise.”

So the others had talked.Not that they had any reason not to; he hadn’t confided anything to anyone.He shrugged.“If he’s going, it’s not with me.”

Her sharp look said she knew he was lying; he let his eyes drift towards the foot of the bed where the dragon cloak was hanging.She pounced on it and held it up triumphantly.“At least I’ll know how to find you, mon petit.And what’s this?” The mask had been tucked into one of the pockets; she held it up and stroked her breasts with it.“Pretty.For you?”

“I just told you: I’m going alone,” he said, letting himself sound a little snappish.It must have been enough of a warning; she dropped the subject and was unusually loud when he fucked her again, screaming his name even though he was almost sure she hadn’t come.

-

She left by the east gate an hour later, cloak pulled over her head against the rain.He slipped out a window and followed her down the avenue towards the cobbled streets of the marketplace.The market was deserted and all the awnings were down. It was raining hard enough to wash the grease and dirt away, and the cobblestones gleamed like old silver in the wet.

Lady May slipped past the empty stalls and stopped at the door of the forge.She had barely lifted a hand before the door swung open.

He waited in an alleyway, under the eaves of a house, taking in the forge.It was the last of a row of shops carved out of some old grand house that had been split up.Dormer windows hovered over the awning of every shop; they were mostly all dirty.The ones above Ash’s shop shone like mirrors.

She came out half an hour later, her face still shadowed by her cloak.He watched her go, counted to a hundred in his head, and walked up to the forge door.It was closed, and the door felt barred when he pushed against it, but he tapped at the window and Ash let him in.

“Mom and dad let you wander off, huh?” Ash said, cheerfully.“You need to use my bathroom to go pee-pee? Should have taken me up on that whole leash thing.”

If he was guilty of anything, it wasn’t showing in his face; he looked as sunnily moronic as every other time Axis had seen him.

“Yeah yeah bite me,” Axis said absent-mindedly, taking a real look around the shop for the first time.

There was a low shelf with belt knives on it.He picked up a few, turning them around in his hand, checking for heft and balance.They were honed well, shaped to fit different grips, clean and smooth when he tried a few strokes with them.He had better at home, but these weren’t bad.

“Nice metal in those,” Ash said conversationally.“Top quality iron come from the Southern Mines.”

“Yeah, they’re good work.”He twirled one in his hand, thinking.If Lady May wanted to go after Rhys she must have had at least a dozen chances to do it while they both visited each other.Why all the talk about the festival?And why visit Ash, one of the most popular small weapons makers in Ivore, in broad daylight, without any attempt to cover her tracks?

He was twirling the knife between his fingers, idly watching the glints it threw up on the walls.The patches of reflected light went back and forth past the leadlight dormer windows in the upper storey of the room, disappearing when they hit the glass.There were exposed beams up there, wide, big ones – clean and free of cobwebs.The windows sparkled.

“Must be busy just before festivale,” he said, watching the play of light outside those windows.North facing, out of the sun.And – he squinted a little – with latches on them.The market plaza was where the Bird King would come to claim his throne; Ash’s shop would face right into where the stage was going to be.“You don’t open when it’s on, right?”

“Nah, not worth the grief.”Ash was polishing a shield, smiling a little.“Junior, you about ready to quit fucking around with me?”

The thing he didn’t get was that Argent trusted Ash – had even consulted with him about some of the security around the Teahouse.Argent was the smartest person he knew.She couldn’t have got it this wrong.The world had just got a little more terrifying if Argent had got this wrong.

No.No, some things were worth trusting in.

“Lady May,” he started, hesitantly, tightening his grip on the knife just in case.He held it up between them.“She … has she got something on you?”

Ash looked puzzled.“What the hell are you talking about?What about Lady May?”

He clutched the knife tighter, braced himself.“Don’t fucking front.I saw her leave.What’s she doing in a weapons shop, huh Ash?”

“She likes looking at my stock?”

“Uh-huh yeah, in your nice weapons shop with the windows that overlook the market square – good clean windows, the only ones in this block.Big solid beams to stand on.”

He took a step towards Ash, holding the knife up higher.If he had to start breaking shit up to get it out in the open, he’d do it.“The Crown Prince comes out on La Petite Nuit, right? Good view of the square when he does.Good spot for a master archer.Or for someone to pass on messages to a bladesman.”

He got in close to Ash, pressed the tip of the knife up against his chin.“So?”

“What makes you think she’s part of any of that?” 

“Never mind that,” Axis snarled.“What was she doing here? You’ve got five seconds to tell me before I shove this top quality iron down your throat.”

Ash rolled his eyes.“Give me strength.”He knocked the blade away with the flat of his hand, and had turned Axis around with one arm twisted hand behind his back before he could react.His breath ghosted over the back of Axis’ neck. “Kid, you’ve got no idea.”

He let go of Axis and pushed him away.“Whatever crackpot, half-assed bullshit ideas you’ve got about my customers, you put them away now.There’s things going on around here you’d miss if they introduced themselves to you, boy.”

Axis made to lunge for him, but Ash brought up the shield he’d been polishing and fended him off.

“Fucker… you’re in on it,” Axis panted, trying to push past it.Ash snorted and shoved hard; it caught Axis off balance and he went down, sprawling on the hard earth floor.

Ash squatted down in front of him and ruffled his hair.“You’re cute when you’re clueless huh, junior? I’m coming round to what he sees in you.”

“Who?” asked Axis, sulking.It was humiliatingly obvious Ash was a little out of his league when it came to throwdowns.

Ash grinned, cheerful again.He picked Axis up, hustled him to the door and pushed him out.“You take care now,” he said, and put the knife into Axis’ hand.“For good luck.”He winked.“Tell all your friends about the great bargains down at Ash’s! You can never have enough breastplates!”

And then Axis was on the street with the door closed behind him and the sound of a bolt firmly sliding home.

“Motherfucker,” he said.It was still raining.

-

Rhys had stepped out of the chapel after Matins that evening, Evelyn on his arm, when Zephyr caught his eye.

“I’ll see you at supper, Evie,” he said, and released her arm to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was behind them.

Zephyr drew him aside into alcove away from the main doors.“We’ve isolated the operation,” he said, quietly.“There’s no doubt May is heavily involved – two groups he’s had the longest association with have men committed to action, and it seems likely the summons came from May.A moneylender we tracked to the border holds the deeds to one of his properties, which means he’s freed up funds.”

Zephyr was always one for delivering the good news first.“It’s not enough,” Rhys said.

Zephyr shook his head.“Nothing we can take to the courts, and nothing we can claim treason on.”He looked grim.“The only way is to lure him out, or catch one of his people in the act.Few men go to the gallows willingly for another.”

“They might for the national pride of Verone,” Rhys said.

“They will swing for the attempt,” Zephyr said fiercely, “not its success.”

Rhys clasped his arm.“I know, Zephyr.Then we’re agreed?”

“Yes,” Zephyr nodded, and it was good to see it finally – the light of battle in his eye.They’d ridden out to border skirmishes together as young men, and Zephyr had been beautiful to see like this: golden and alive with anticipation for the coming battle.Sometimes he thought he’d taken away too much from Zephyr when he’d set him on this path all those years ago.

“Yes,” Zephyr said again, grinning now.“You _will_ go to the rowdy celebrations, Rhys D’Ivore.”

-

Ash hadn’t been any help, but Axis didn’t think he was involved.He seemed like the kind of guy who’d cheerfully shove a sword into you, but from the front – not from behind you with a dagger.

He needed information – the kind you couldn’t get off the street without it getting back to the person being asked about.It wasn’t hard to know who to go to, but it was dangerous: Linneus would do anything for Atros, and that included things that Atros wouldn’t necessarily do for himself. No-one knew the intimate world of Ivore aristos better than Linneus, though; he’d been spreading his legs longer than any of them and sooner or later everyone wanted to have a turn with the cream-skinned boy the house had raised.

Lady May was powerful – one false step and she could see them all ruined.If they did nothing, though, it would come back to the Teahouse, one way or the other. And he couldn’t afford to lose the Teahouse.

It wasn’t the life he’d dreamed off, back in the village.It wasn’t what his mother had dreamed of for him.She’d put him on her knee before bed, both of them holding mugs of hot, dark coffee and together they’d whisper about what he’d do when he moved to the city.

“More than this, eh _cher_?” she’d say, waving the cup around the room; she meant the faded walls and the dents in all the saucepans in the kitchen, but he thought maybe she also meant the fields outside and the old, weary passage of time in a village.She’d had dreams, _maman_ : dreams of new roads, new faces, the closeness of strangers.

He’d never told her he his were different.Ones where he didn’t have to fight for every single thing he got; he’d go to the city and rest his fists, stop having to need a wall against his back all the time.His face had been getting him in trouble for as long as he could remember – older boys thinking they wanted to fight when they wanted to fuck, younger boys knowing what the older boys wanted.It always came to the same thing: biding your time till you had the advantage.

He should have known better.It was the old story again when he came to the city, only in alleyways and against the walls of stinking taverns.When he’d given in and started using whorehouse beds, they’d put the slave marks on him to try and make him stay.

Atros had found him torn and bleeding against the side of his coach one night when he’d decided he’d had enough of that world; he’d take the docks over the bed lice and the filthy sheets stained with come and blood, under his back.

“Piss off,” he said, letting his legs slump, resigned to what would come next but still resolved to bite the fucker’s dick off if it was the last thing he did alive.

Atros knelt down and looked at his feet.“Two already.” He nudged the tip of his cane under Axis’s chin.“And yet you look like you’ve still got life left in you. Country boy?”

Axis shoved the cane away from his face and clenched his fists, ready.“Cost you extra tonight, mister.On account of how I’m ready to tear your balls off with my teeth if you try anything without my say-so.”

Atros grimaced and stood up.Axis shuffled forward a little, so the wheel wouldn’t crush him when it turned.A small piece of paper fluttered into his lap.

“My card,” Atros said when Axis looked up at him.“You’ll be worth half of what you are now in a year’s time.Don’t think about it too long.”He was in the carriage and gone before Axis could spit at him.

He looked up the address and walked down the street a few days later.A tall, oily man from the whorehouse down at the docks had come looking for him the day before.“Get thy meat now, or thy bones later,” he’d said, and quick as lightning his hand had come out to grab at Axis’s balls.“Hole’s a hole. _Eh bien_? We’ll have it either way.”

“ _Putain_ ,” Axis hissed and twisted the man’s wrist till he heard it snap.There wasn’t much of a choice to be made after that.The oily man was right: someone, somewhere was going to get him eventually.

When he saw the Teahouse he thought, _only a little more than what we had, maman.But it’ll be enough_.

Atros let him in the side door, and for a whole month he’d had the attic room; the cheapest, most desperate clients needing to climb three flights of stairs to get to him.At the end of the month he’d washed himself, taken off his shirt and gone to see Atros, ready to drop to his knees there, too.It wasn’t like he couldn’t be convincing: you tasted long and deep and waited till they started writhing under your tongue.It didn’t matter who they were or the cries they made as they came; it was all the same – you swallowed it all down the same, took it whatever way it came to you. The oily man had been right.

Atros hadn’t needed convincing.He’d already run the numbers and Axis was on the second floor the next day, in a room that smelt like flowers, with a window looking out onto the street.

His letters to his mother were all about the messages he carried for the King’s Service, and how bright his uniform was.Twenty francs to her every month and enough lies to keep the world turning.Her letters back to him were about the season’s barley crop, and the new slate she’d bought his sister with the money.

Yes, it was enough.

-

“I’m acquainted with the Mays,” Linneus said, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back in his chair.He offered Axis a glass of tea.It was a deep green colour and smelt like lime flowers.“More Lord May than his wife, I have to admit.”

“Ugh the whole family visits here?” Axis made a face.“Tacky.”He sipped the tea; it wasn’t bad.

Linneus shook his head.“No, I know Lord May from when Atros’ father ran the Teahouse.They were business associates, of a kind.Master Atros would take Xanthe along on some of the visits.”

“So you know where they live?” He cursed himself as soon as he’d said it-- too eager and quick.

“I do.”Linneus’ face was implacable.

Axis braced himself.It wasn’t like he hadn’t been expecting it.“It won’t come back to Atros, it won’t hurt the Teahouse – if I can stop it in time – and if I don’t get it from you, I’ll have to get it from someone else.Someone else who might not share our priorities.Come on Linneus, this is important.”

“I had no idea we had any priorities in common,” Linneus said.

“Yeah yeah okay, I’m an irresponsible asshole who doesn’t care about anything, reams the shit out of everyone any chance I get, and I probably need my ass pistol-whipped some days,” Axis said, because he was here now, wasn’t he?No point doing anything halfway.

Linneus’ eyes widened, and then he was actually chuckling – it was slightly unsettling; Linneus switched between mournful and weirdly serene as a rule.

“Axis, Axis,” Linneus said, dabbing at his eyes and writing something down on a notebook in front of him.He ripped the sheet he had written on out of the book and slid it along the table to Axis, still smiling.“I get what he sees in you.”

Axis glared at him.“Is everyone in on this? Fucking _who_?” 

But Linneus refused to say anything more, patting his shoulder and trying to force some little cakes made of pressed cheese on him.

-

The address Linneus had given him was daunting enough to make him change into something more respectable: dark breeches and a boiled wool jacket a client had given him, and his hair tucked away under a hat.He still looked like someone who used their hands for a living, but they wouldn’t turn him away at the tradesmen’s’ entrance, at least.

He got lucky: the Mays were planning a ball to celebrate the festivale, and the household was in an uproar, desperate for more hands to finish the work.“You’ll do,” the head butler said, looking him up and down, and set him to work hanging up the curtains in the ballroom.

Atros had given him afternoons off till after the festivale was over; business was slow while there were other attractions.It took three days of attendance at the Mays’: flirting with the serving maids until he found one indiscreet enough to let him lure her upstairs.He wanted to lie her down on a lady’s bed, he said, see her legs tangled up in fine linen.

If it had been any other time he wouldn’t have got far, but the upper floors weren’t being attended to while they were readying the rooms for the ball downstairs.She hesitated, giggled when he plunged a finger down her neckline, hesitated again, and finally moaned and pulled him upstairs when he put his mouth on her.

Afterwards, on the floor in Lady May’s room, he gently pulled his arm from under her as she slept and went to check the wardrobe.

Lady May liked green: there were gowns and underslips, wispy bits of silk and sets of pantaloons – all in shades of emerald, grassy green, and the colours lime leaves turned in spring.The black garment bag hanging in the middle of the rippling verdant stood out all the more for the contrast.Inside, there were black oiled leather breeches, a close-fitting black woven shirt and a mask that looked like a cat’s face.The breeches had knife pockets all down the legs.

\--

He made it back to the Teahouse that evening in time for his last appointment of the night: a spry old countess who liked to be on top while still dressed, but Atros barely had enough time to announce a change in scheduling before Rhys stalked into the room.

“Thought you’d be out servicing the little woman,” Axis said, crossing his arms and leaning against the arm of the couch.

“I’m not married yet.”Rhys sat down in an armchair, crossed one leg over the other, and lit a cigarette.He blew out a cloud of smoke and watched Axis through it with flat, expressionless eyes.

“You’re waiting? Huh.Never picked you for the old-fashioned type,” Axis said. 

“Much as I’d love to explore all the inner workings of your feeble mind,” Rhys said, “let’s not forget I’m paying for this fascinating psychological exploration by the hour.Undress.”

There was a heavy, dull feeling in the air, like cloud cover coming down a mountain.It was setting his teeth on edge.Rhys looked like he wasn’t even in the same room, like his body had shown up but the rest of him was locked away somewhere.

“Make me,” he said, opening his arms out.Rhys stared at him like he’d never seen him before.“Come on, you pussy.”

Rhys’ mouth thinned.“It seems I misjudged.”He put his cigarette out, stood up, and walked towards the door.“This was a mistake.”

Axis got there before him, grabbed at the lapels of his jacket and pushed him up against the curtains.“Make me,” he said.

“You and your dramatics,” Rhys said, sounding bored.

Axis crowded in closer.“Chickenshit.”

“My father died tonight,” Rhys said.

_ Ah fuck _ , Axis thought, and hit him.

-

He didn’t second guess himself, not knowing Rhys the way he did; it was almost a liability, knowing someone that well, breaking yourself open against them again and again.

He had a minute to see Rhys’ face: open and alive, so enraged it was almost blinding.Then Rhys’ head jerked back to face him, and Rhys came at him with a snarl and a fist so fast that Axis knew he’d have to take the hit.It hurt like fuck: landed on the side of his nose and _jesu_ , it felt like he was swallowing his own tongue, but he knew to move before Rhys could get in another one.

He was just in time: a punch whistled through the air as it missed him.He swivelled, grabbed the out flung arm, and twisted it up and behind Rhys’ back.Rhys’ other hand came up, quick as lightning, and grabbed a hank of his hair so hard he thought his scalp would come off his skill.

“That is some fucking unsportsmanlike play,” Axis said.

“Always have to push me that little bit further, don’t you Alice,” Rhys said against his lips, keeping his grip tight on Axis’ hair, turning Axis’ head to meet his mouth.He felt tears smart in the corners of his eyes from the sting.

He’d only had a certain kind of kiss from Rhys: the hot frantic mess that sucked them both under when their bodies clashed, or the soft unravel afterwards when they were unguarded enough to reach for each other.This was different, the kind of kiss that brought some unknown thing into an unfamiliar place and still wanted it recognised, against all the odds.Something in him knew it so well it was almost a joke.

He let go of Rhys’ arm.“I don’t want anything from you, asshole,” he said.

“Everyone wants something from me,” Rhys said, cold and serene.“Everyone.Why should you be any different?”

He would never allow Rhys the truth, not if he could help it.But there had been nothing in Rhys’ voice that was really a question.

“You’re here,” he said. “There’s that.”

Rhys looked up at him, eyes very blue.

“There’s that,” Rhys said.

-

It was the way it always was: Rhys’ mouth on Axis, holding down Axis’ hips while Axis fisted the sheets and swore himself hoarse.Rhys pulled off, poured oil all over his fingers and rubbed them over Axis’ hole, biting a nipple while he did it.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Axis said, almost mad from it, and pushed himself down on those fingers.They went in smooth as butter; Rhys crooked them inside and rubbed at the spot he always found, finding Axis’ mouth at the same time and swallowing his groans.

“I can’t.” He didn’t even know he’d spoken, but Rhys said, low and dark in his ear, “I know.I’m here.”And then Rhys got to his knees, pulled him in, and braced Axis’ legs on his shoulders.

He was ready.Ah god, he was so ready.Rhys was flushed and his eyes were wild and Axis wanted that in him, all that heat and wildness deep inside him, swallowing him up.

Then Rhys reached behind him and pulled out a little folded packet.Axis looked down at it and back up at Rhys, who was watching him with the wild still in his eyes, but with something else behind it.Something that looked careful, and almost afraid.

It was the way it always was … and it wasn’t.Maybe it would never be again.

He wanted to speak but it hurt so goddamned fucking much to talk.“Yeah,” he managed, finally, throat aching.“Yeah, that’s … good,” and helped Rhys put the sheath on with fumbling fingers.

It got even stranger after that: kisses that swirled around them and took their words away, a hot luxury of tongues and lips.Nothing they’d done had readied them for this slow dance; it was awkward and uncertain to begin with, and Axis felt Rhys pause before he pushed in, like he never had before, like he was asking a question.

It wasn’t an answer he’d ever given before, or he’d ever thought he’d give – not to anyone: _please_ , he heard himself say and Rhys came into him, the sheath feeling strange and foreign for a second but so good, so fucking good.Rhys slid all the way home, balls pressed against Axis’ ass, breathing hard.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Axis said again, closing his eyes against it.

“That’s the general idea,” Rhys said dryly, but Axis reached up and pinched one of his nipples hard, in retaliation, and Rhys made a low, hungry sound that had them both suddenly moving.

They moved together like they never had before: slow and careful, eyes on each other, and if Axis ever thought about it later, all he could remember was the dark sweetness of it; how Rhys shuddered and ground into him, murmuring things they couldn’t turn away from.How Axis had constantly needed to feel Rhys’ skin against his mouth, to lick at the smooth expanse of it and feel Rhys’ breath hitch underneath his tongue.

How, when Rhys had finally taken him in hand, that hot, luscious grip had finally tipped him over and he’d come hard, shuddering, so he was only dimly aware of Rhys above him, leaning down to press his lips against Axis’ throat as he came too, hissing his pleasure into Axis’ skin.

-

Rhys was the first to stir, to pull himself away from the tangle of limbs.“I have to – “

“Ah no, fuck em,” Axis said, sleepy and unguarded, but he pulled his chin off Rhys’ shoulder and got up to find Rhys’ boots.

They dressed Rhys in silence: shirt, breeches, jacket, boots.Each thing Rhys put on pulled him further away from Axis; by the end he grew so still that Axis had to finish the jacket off alone, fumbling at the bright gold buttons.

When he was done Rhys said, “they’ll be expecting me,” but he made no move to go.

There was a hairsbreadth between their bodies; it felt like a chasm.

“Go on then,” Axis said, as gently as he could.“Don’t let them down.”

Rhys said, “My father.“

“Yeah,” Axis said, and nudged Rhys’ shoulder with his own.“Yeah.”He could smell Rhys’ scent from where he was: some kind of peppermint thing.He’d know it anywhere; it had rubbed off wherever they’d had sex.“You got this?”

Rhys looked at him and nodded.It was brisk and short, but his eyes weren’t the shiny, dead colour they had been when he walked in.

They walked to the door together.Rhys gripped the edge of it before he turned to leave.“Don’t go to La Petite Nuit,” he said, without looking at Axis.

“Don’t come, then,” Axis said, and Rhys put a hand on his chest and kissed him, his face more unguarded than Axis had ever seen it.

“Don’t go.Please,” he said, and left.

-

They had agreed to announce the news of his father’s death after La Petite Nuit, but the rule of succession said Rhys had to be crowned by the close of the first night.

In the end, it was Zephyr, Evelyn, the coterie of priests and his old nursemaid who stood witness to his coronation.The abbot sang the Terce and ran oil through his hair, and Rhys closed his eyes and remembered his father’s coronation: how he had taken the sword and crown of Charlemagne and held them above his head and how the crowds had roared, a great tidal wave of sound that surged across the city.

Evelyn stood like a queen behind him, eyes bright and wet, with her head held up, and sang the Antiphon with the monks.

When it was over and he was holding the sword in his hands, they all knelt before him.He felt the weight of his ancestors resting on the hilt of the weapon, holding his hand steady while the rest of him, deep inside, missed his father and trembled like a leaf in the wind.

-

Axis’ fingers shook as he dressed for La Petite Nuit.The dragon’s tail coiled about his shoulders and when he turned and looked over his shoulder into the mirror, it might have been alive on his back for the way its scales gleamed, rising and falling with his every breath, a trail of black smoke over a blood-red sea.

He tied the silver mask on and left it perched on top of his head.The blue wig he stuffed into a pocket in his pants.

Rhys had sent no word or message; Axis could hardly ask Atros to get one of his runners to deliver one on his behalf, and no letter he sent independently would get to Rhys on time.

If only he had never shown any interest in the goddamn festival – but it was too late for that now.And maybe it didn’t even matter to Lady May, because if you wanted to get someone you eventually found a way.He thought of Rhys’ last kiss: that low, fierce thing he’d murmured, how his mouth had been soft and the brush of his lips strange and sweet.

In the end, Axis did the only thing he could do.

When he found her it was almost dusk and she was on a balcony, her hand resting lightly on her sword as she watched the street below.

“Argent,” he said, and felt his chest tighten when she turned to him, her body tensing at his tone.It was here now, real and alive in the room.There would be no going back from it, and one way or the other there would be blood.But his lips still tingled from that kiss and the way Rhys had sounded, almost pained.

That memory was under his skin so fucking bad he thought he was going to scream from it.

“Argent, they’re going to kill the King.”

-

The thing with Argent wasn’t just that she was loyal, but that she knew what to do with that loyalty.Linneus would throw himself in front of a cart for Atros – Argent would see that the cart was a threat before anyone else did and blow it up before it even set out on its journey.

She said nothing about him knowing who Rhys was.He hadn’t expected her to.

She listened to him, her face composed and flawless.When he finished, she said, “Prince Rh—the King leaves the palace by a small door in the east gate when he comes to visit us.It faces into Rue Montagne. It’s the most private exit out of the palace and probably the one he’ll use tonight. I’ll wait by it in case I can catch him there.The men who guard it know me.” 

Axis frowned.“And if you don’t?How are we gonna find him if he leaves early, or leaves by another gate?There’ll be a million people on the streets tonight.”

“The Teahouse is on Rue du Mirabelle,” Argent said.“It feeds into the Grand Avenue.Stay on that intersection amongst the crowd and wait.I’ll send a message if I find him first.”

The thought of just standing around doing nothing while it all played out without him, or while someone painted a bullseye on Rhys…

Argent was watching him, her eyes bright and knowing.

Of course that wasn’t how it was going to happen.Everything that had been set in motion since the moment he’d decided he’d be out on the street tonight – taking this one moment of freedom, this one night where he alone chose the body he lay with, chose the mouth he kissed – everything had been leading to this.

He had known from the beginning how he would choose, for all the good it would do him.Royalty didn’t kiss whores in the street.But it wouldn’t matter, because it would be his – his choice to make, and not one that belonged to any whorehouse anywhere in the world.There was no play without him, and without him there would have been no play to begin with.

It was what would send Rhys out tonight looking for him, and what, ultimately, would guide the assassin home.

He drew the cloak in a little closer, knotting his fingers in it.

Argent nodded.“Courage,” she said, squeezing him once on the shoulder, and then she turned and was gone.

-

Claret and Mercutio pouted and protested when he wouldn’t go past the corner into the heart of the carnivale but after giving them a few minutes to blow off steam, Linneus ushered them off.He gave Axis a grave nod, looking beautiful and glowing in his golden butterfly costume.

After that there was nothing to do but wait, like Argent had told him to, though his blood thrummed and boiled in him.Wait, and notice the hundreds of people covered in weapons to celebrate the coming of the Bird King.People with quivers full of arrows and bows slung about their shoulders, people shining with weapons.Who would notice an arrow shivering through the air tonight, or a sheath with one less dagger in it at the end of the evening?

A bear danced past him, mock growling and pawing at his dragon.A white dragonfly woman kissed a man covered in fish scales, and a small boy riding on his father’s shoulders shouted out a song.

Music played at the end of the street, the trumpets fast and desperate, with a drum underneath it all like a call to war.The crowd thickened and pulsed along with it.The little boy’s song caught in the heavy evening air and swelled and grew along the avenue; when it reached Axis it was strong and hot and he found himself shouting the words with the crowd. _Le choc fut semblable à la foudre_ , he sang, _the shock was like lightning_ , and the people stamped and cheered to the drums.

He felt a body press against his – more strongly than the rest of the crowd was pressing against him – and warmer, harder.

“ _Ce fut un combat de géants_ ,” a voice hummed in his ear, close enough that the noise around them didn’t matter. “Their glorious road to immortality.”Rhys bit down softly on his earlobe and even through the danger and the fear, Axis felt a wave of heat rush through him.

Rhys turned him around so they were facing each other, their bodies pressed together in the throng.He was dressed in black, a bright gold mask around his eyes.He cupped Axis’s chin in his hand.“So?”

His thumb came to sweep along Axis’s bottom lip, and Axis, helpless, desperate, nipped at it and pressed his hips against Rhys’ a little harder.

The crowd stirred around them; the Bird King was due to arrive, and the singing sank down to a low throb.

“Fuck fuck fuck,” Axis said, feeling his heart clench so hard in him he thought his chest might cave in, “you fucking idiot. I told you not to come.” 

“You did,” Rhys said, “but here I am regardless.”He sounded stiff, and there was a muscle ticking in his jaw.

Axis said, “And I’m the dramatic one?Yes. _Yes_.Always yes, okay? Though it kills me to pump up that already way-too-inflated ego of yours.Did we really have to discover that surrounded by a million people? We need to get the fuck out of here.”

“We need to stay,” Rhys said, pulling him closer, though it didn’t seem possible.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Axis said.“You know how many people here would stab you without thinking, given half the chance?”

That caught Rhys’ attention: he pulled back abruptly.“What? How do you – when did you kno—“

The crowd surged: at the entrance of the avenue there was a great shout and whistles started blowing.The Bird King had arrived.“ _Le Roi_!” the people around them bellowed.“The King! _Regardez_!”

He was trying to untie the cloak and wrench the mask off when he realised Rhys wasn’t pressed against him any longer.His fingers found the knot and the cloak came away at the exact second he saw Rhys, backing away to the fringes of the crowd, and his eyes very bright and fixed on Axis.

A woman with a cat’s mask on stood at the edge of the crowd, searching the sea of people for something.

-

Axis’s mouth dried up; he pushed past the groups of people surging forward, and for a minute he thought they would take him along with them, but he managed to shove through the press of bodies.

It took another two strides and he was there, pulling Rhys the other way around, swinging the cloak around Rhys’s shoulders and pulling the silver mask down over his face.The blue wig was in his pocket; he jammed it on his own head and shook Rhys by the shoulders.“Stay here,” he said.

“No wait, it’s all righ—“ Rhys said, but Axis was already running by then, weaving in and out of the people standing scattered at the edge of the huge surging mass of people in the marketplace, heading straight for the woman.

She was in the same place, her hands by her sides, swaying a little to the music.He put his head down and barrelled straight into her, making sure he caught her arms close; she gave a little scream and went down hard, trying to kick out at him.

-

Hands clasped his arms; he was pulled away from the woman, but not roughly, and by the time he was on his feet he was ready again, pulling Ash’s knife out from the belt he’d strapped around his waist, whirling on whoever had pulled him off.

A tall, blonde man stood with his hands up and open in front of him.“Peace,” he said, waving his hands a little.“I’m unarmed.”

Axis snorted.The man’s hands were scored with knife wounds, and where his sleeves had slipped down his forearms there were the kinds of scars you only got from a broadsword slicing across you like a saw.Men with those sorts of war wounds didn’t really need weapons.

Still, blondie looked relaxed; he was even smiling a little.

“Bodyguard?” Axis said, jerking his head towards Rhys, who was hurrying towards them.

“One of them,” the man said, dryly, and waved a hand around them.

When he really looked, yeah, okay: almost every man and woman within striking distance of Rhys wasn’t watching him: they were watching the crowd to see who was watching Rhys.He blinked, and realised the woman he’d tackled to the ground was getting up, cursing in a low, steady stream.She’d pulled her mask off.

“Asshole,” the woman said, but blondie laid a restraining hand on her arm and she scowled and moved away, taking point in some unknown formation.

“Uh,” Axis said, but before he could get anything else out, Rhys had caught up with them.

“Zephyr,” Rhys said, “I couldn’t see.Was it?” and the man – Zephyr – shook his head.

“One of ours,” he said, and patted Axis on the arm.“Good instincts, though.”

Axis shifted uneasily, but snatched his arm away.“Lady May—“

“Also one of ours,” Zephyr said, his eyes back on the crowd.“She’s been watching out for you.”

“Oh that’s what they call it where you come from?You’d better have been paying for all that _watching_.”But he couldn’t work up the energy to really bitch; the rush of adrenaline had left him and the thick press of noise and heat was starting to make his head throb.“So, what, where the hell is she?”

Zephyr shrugged.“Her orders are to protect you.She’ll have seen you’re with us and joined up with another team.”

“Just like that.” He rubbed at his head a little.When was the crowd going to stop singing already? “We still need to get out of here.”He’d been so sure.

Rhys was watching him.“Zephyr,” he said, in a tone Axis had never heard before.

Zephyr looked between them and nodded once, a little curtly.He made a few motions with his hands, and about seven of the people who had been watching Rhys curled away from the others and joined them.

“Back to the Teahouse,” Rhys said, putting a hand on his back, “come on.”God, Rhys was so warm.Axis let Rhys guide him forward, stumbling a little in spite of Rhys’s hand guiding him forward.

-

“So why’s she been watching me?”They were walking down Rue Du Mirabelle; Rhys’ bodyguards were in front and behind them, at a discreet enough distance that they could talk.

“Her husband has been a threat,” Rhys said.He frowned.“We were expecting him to make a move tonight, which is why I’m surrounded like this.”

The street wasn’t completely empty, but the few people left on it were heading towards the party; it would go on for most of the night.A few drunken boys sitting on the edge of the pavement clutched at each other and laughed.On the opposite stretch of pavement, across the street, the boulangerie was closing: _M_. Jeunet was drawing down the awning.A woman in green stopped to talk to him, pointing to the display.He held his hands out, his face polite but regretful.All the bread had probably sold out early, with all the revellers fortifying themselves against the long night of drinking that was to come.

“You were _expecting_ him to…”Something was tugging at his mind, but for a minute all he could feel was the heat of rage.He glared at Rhys, and stopped walking.“Of all the stupid, moronic things—“

Rhys sighed and pulled at his sleeve.“Believe me, this is not a new discussion.As it happens, the whole thing was reasonably important to my marriage negotiations. The fact that he didn’t appear tonight is … troubling.”

The thing was almost kicking him now, but he still wanted to punch Rhys in the face.“ _That’s_ the thing that’s troubling? Not the fact that he wants to kill you—kill the _king_.For fuck’s sake.”

Rhys narrowed his eyes at Axis.“About that—“ he started to say.

It was only a flicker in the corner of his eye, but it took just that one second for the pit of his stomach to clench with realisation: _green as emeralds, the green of lime leaves in spring, green green green_ and he had just enough time to look over to see her pull the knife out.

Rhys was still in the dragon cloak.Axis was still wearing the blue wig.That was good, that was right: he’d meant it to be a flag, waving wildly at the world – here I am, see me, _see me_ – 

He saw her hesitate; from across the street you’d be able to make out height differences.Just.

He grabbed Rhys’ hair, pulled it so Rhys’ head snapped back, and kissed him as imperiously and as carelessly as he could.Rhys blinked; Axis let go of his hair, pushed Rhys back and stepped in front of him.One of the bodyguards saw Lady May across the street – her hand snapping back, the knife flying – and started to run, shouting, but it was too late, too late

and then there was a white strike of pain against his shoulder as he felt the knife hit home, the agony firing through him like lightning seconds before he registered – like it was as harmless as a dream –the soft swish of its passage.

-

“Axis,” Rhys said, from far away.It made him open his eyes a little.

“Axis,” Rhys said again, louder, and Axis realised Rhys was holding him on his lap.His guards were all around him.They were still on the street but he couldn’t see or hear anyone else and there was a thick feel to the air when he breathed it in.

“There’s a knife under your shoulder blade,” Rhys said.His eyes were very angry, but his hands were gentle.A man squatted next to him, grey-haired and in medic robes.“Gio’s going to try and pull it out.You’re bleeding too much.We would leave it in until we got back to the Teahouse but you’re losing too much blood.”

“Nah s’my night off,” Axis said.There were small bright lights going off in the corners of his eyes.

“Keep awake,” Rhys said, his arms tightening around Axis – which was all the warning he had before the old man sprinkled some sort of powder around the wound – sweet _jesu_ it stung – and then the guards were holding his feet down and the medic reached in and pulled the knife out.

He screamed till his throat gave out.Rhys held him while the medic tried to staunch the bleeding.The pain closed him down, and the last thing he felt before blackness took him was Rhys’ arms, wet with blood and tight as a vice around him.

-

He slept a long time, flitting between unconsciousness and a hazy waking: he would see dim light, white sheets, and then a hand would rest on his cheek, or a thumb smooth along his temple, and he’d feel his eyes closing again.

When he finally woke up, it was to the immediate knowledge he wasn’t at the Teahouse.The room he was in was clean and light, though the tapestries on its walls were ancient.The windows were set in stone.

So, the palace.

Rhys was in a chair next to the bed, watching him.He looked grim and tired, and older.

“It missed your heart by an inch,” he said.“They bound the muscles in your shoulders with plaster cloths.You won’t be able to move your arm for a month.”

“It was a hunting knife,” Rhys said.“You were lucky.It went straight through without catching on too much inner flesh.”

“The distance it travelled – if it had been another inch lower it would have pulverised your heart,” Rhys said.

“Hey,” Axis said, “Rhys. Hey, come here,” and ignored the scream in his shoulder when he lifted a hand to grip Rhys’ shirt and pull him in.

Rhys didn’t budge.His body was so stiff and cold it looked like he was going to shatter. “I should kill you now,” Rhys said, fists clenched, “and save the world a little extra stupidity.I should kill you.”He’d had gone as white as a sheet.

“Baby, I’m okay” Axis said, “Look at me, I’m okay.Come here”

He pulled again, and this time Rhys did come; sliding into bed with Axis and holding him gently but awkwardly.

“You could have called out.I had bodyguards,” Rhys said.“They were there, did you see them?”

“Please, like any of them would take a knife for an asshole like you,” Axis said, burrowing his nose into Rhys’ neck.Rhys’ arms tightened around him.

It was a long while later that Rhys spoke again. “You knew,” Rhys said, arms warm around Axis’ battered body.“All this time, you’ve known.”

“I honestly don’t know what gave it away, when I think about it,” Axis said, yawning.“Was it the coach with the royal coat of arms waiting outside, the fancy outfits – or wait, the pictures in the papers every day since you were thirteen?I’m really gonna have to think about this one.”

“You’re an imbecile,” Rhys said, and kissed him.“How,” Rhys said, against his lips, “could that have been your choice. _How_.Help me understand.Your stupidity almost equals—“

“—oh for fuck’s sake,” Axis said, and kissed him back, hard and hot enough to shut him up, please god.

-

The nationalists would have it no other way but that he would abandon the marriage; Rhys was disposed to make an announcement that they should be more concerned that one of their fellow _citizens_ had been hurt, but Zephyr talked him out of it.

“Everything is ammunition now,” Zephyr said, and bowed and left as Gloria came sweeping into the room.

They eyed each other warily, but whatever Gloria was, she wasn’t a coward.

“I didn’t know,” she said, stiffly.“Will you believe me?”

“If I believed you, Gloria,” he said, “what then?”

She took a deep breath.“I would release you from the contract.Our kingdoms would know it was my decision.”

He felt his fingers go numb.It had never occurred to him that she might not be as committed to this was he was: they’d both been groomed for it since birth; his father had invested everything in making this a reality.And this – what she was proposing – 

“That would be an admission of guilt,” he said, more to say the words out loud than anything else.

“Yes,” Gloria said, and he realised it was the only way she could go back to ruling, if she were to do it with any kind of dignity.

“Gloria,” he said, as gently as he could, because she was so vulnerable, “unification would strengthen us.Whatever we might feel about our parents’ manipulations, you know it would.The southern kingdoms grow stronger every day.This is our protection.”

“There’s no strength in this, Rhys,” she said, looking tired.“This is another civil war in waiting – and Verone can’t afford more conflict.It would take our children’s’ children before we had peace.”He’d heard, through Zephyr, that Lord and Lady May had both been given to the courts in Ivore to sentence.Gloria had had her personal security detail escort the couple to the city’s prison.

“So you’d condemn us to vulnerability?”It was incongruous and strange that he was getting angry at Gloria because she didn’t want to marry him, but it had been a strange week overall.

She must have had the same thought, because she looked at him, her mouth twisted in a wry smile.“It’s like we’ve come full circle, isn’t it? The politics of unification all tangled up with how we spend the rest of our lives together.”

“That’s love, of a kind,” he said, but they were both smiling at each other now.

“I’m sorry,” Gloria said, “Lord May was like a father to me after papa died, but I always knew his dreams for Verone were different from my own.I wanted peace, he wanted only his version of it.”She looked away.“My aunt wanted to rule with the sword and shield, by his side.They would have bled Verone dry.But they cared for me, and for each other, and that too was love, of a kind.”

“I can’t allow it,” he said, finally, feeling heavy and sick inside.“For our kingdom’s sakes, I can’t—“

“Our _kingdoms_ ,” Gloria said deliberately, looking back at him and straightening up, “will benefit from the new trade and monetary policy treaty that will come into effect in a year’s time.It will establish a single currency, backed by Ivore’s mineral wealth, and Verone’s labour capacity.In addition, we’ll cede all trade route rights to Ivore – including the mountain pass to the northern kingdoms – in return for a shared welfare system, with caveats and conditions placed on it to stop exploitation, of course.”

She smiled.“And, to be perfectly honest with you, my palace is infinitely more comfortable.Those terrible draughty bedrooms of yours.”

He gaped at her, and she rolled her eyes at his look.“Good grief, Rhys,” she said, “Catch up.It’s like you think _Lord May_ drafted the conditions of the last contract.”

 

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Epilogue

 

 

“Look at you, Mr badass king,” Axis said, grinning down at the supreme monarch of Ivore lying sprawled across him, mouth soft and red from giving Axis a truly astounding blowjob.

Rhys flicked a finger up at him, face still partly buried in Axis’ chest.He’d kept Axis on the edge forever, and when they had finally both come it felt like he was blowing apart, pulled into pieces by it.

“Don’t speak that way to your monarch,” he said, “and salute while you’re talking.Don’t they teach you anything in my Guard?”

“Speaking of which,” Axis pushed Rhys off and stood up, “I’ve got drill soon.Go pronounce something at someone.”

“If I’d known you being in the King’s Guard meant cutting off all those little braids,” Rhys said lazily, lounging on the pillows, “I’d have put you in the band instead.I feel like I’ve lost old friends.”

“Yeah well, the braids were part of the whorehouse look.”Axis buttoned his tunic up.His reflection showed a young man with cropped red hair, no piercings, and a strange, contented expression.

Ugh. He looked _hideous_.Thank god they couldn’t do anything about the tattoos.“I mean, we could go back to our old arrangement.I really miss my eyebrow ring.”

“We could,” Rhys agreed.“Sex in that filthy room again..”

“—against the purple curtains with their excellent absorption qualities,” Axis nodded.

“… calling down for the cheapest wine in Ivore,” Rhys said.

“Oh fuck, that wine.”Axis chuckled.“You knew when Claret had been in charge of the shopping that week; the wine was worse than some of the spunk I had to swallow.”

Rhys’ face darkened.

“Yeah yeah,” Axis said, but he got on the bed and straddled Rhys.“Baby, come on.”

Rhys grabbed his tunic and pulled him down into a kiss that was hot and snarled and just slightly possessive. “You can leave,” Rhys said, against his mouth, “anytime you want.Pensioned and with a property anywhere in Ivore.”

It was an old enough conversation that he didn’t feel a pang at the starkness of the words, but was warmed instead by their meaning.Here he was, come from a world with no choices at all to this new place – and here there was no real choice at all.Just the one.

“Yeah,” he said, unbuttoning his tunic – there was time – and Rhys flattened his hand against his chest, sending waves of heat down Axis’ body.“I could.But look at this, I’m here instead.”

Rhys looked up at him, eyes so blue it was like looking into the heart of a flame.

“You are,” he said.

 

-

 

The End.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a square on my trope_bingo card.
> 
> Title taken from the lyrics of [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKwutPPkWwU) Mick Flannery song.
> 
> Beta thanks, as always, to Cyphomandra.


End file.
